More Illustrations from Colorful Women – Week of May 7
I don't have much else to say about these drawings of mine. I gonna keep doing them until I get tired of them or find a new subject I enjoy – whichever comes first.
A Week of Drawing
I took this week off from client projects to work on a special project of my own. As things worked out, I did not get a chance to wprk on my "special project" the way I would have liked, but I did get the time to do some drawings and sketches for some new paintings. [...]
500 Little Drawings
I’ve been working on these small 3×3 illustrations for the past year and have decided to create and exhibit 500 of them by the end of 2012. I enjoy the basic process of drawing, inking [...]
Creative Incubation
I can feel myself shutting down from the world around me and coming into a world where my words become few. It is a place where all of the months of experiences and observations are rinsed away from my mind and body onto canvas, paper and brushes. It is time for me to create. I [...]
Colorful Women Website Launches 2012
Starting today, January 1, 2012, I am launching a new web site – Colorful Women. It will be the home of artwork, campaigns and products from the Colorful Women Series. I hope that you take some time to visit. THE WEB SITE IS COLORFULWOMEN.DMJSTUDIO.COM
Colorful Women – Painting 4 – Colorfully…Strange
This painting was completed sometime in 2006. At this point in my artistic development, I was really dissecting the female form as much as I could to see, if even in its most distorted form, could it be seen AND if it could be seen, was it still beautiful. As an artist I think every [...]
Colorful Women – Painting 3 – Reclining Woman
The reclining woman is a popular subject amongst artist. Here are just a few of my favorite interpretation of reclining women. Manet’s Olympia Henry Moore’s sculptures. And of course Picasso I think that artist find the reclining woman subject intriguing because it is a position of power as well as vulnerability. It can also be [...]
Colorful Women – Painting 2 – The Purple Study
In 1999 or 2000, I was diagnosed with clinical depression. For some artist, depression has been a motivator and have pushed their art to a level they may have never reached without the experience. I, on the other hand, could not paint while I was depressed. One of the last things I tried to create [...]
Colorful Women – Painting 1 – The Orange Lady
After presenting at PK Night last month, it got me really thinking about why I create what I create and where it all began. I wanted to share that story more on my blog and even some of the paintings created over the years. Before I share the first painting of this series, I wanted [...]
Watts Towers
Thanksgiving was wonderful. I didn’t spend it with my immediate family. I spent it with friends that have grown to be family in Los Angeles. You know, I had to start telling my mother in August that I was not going to be home for Thanksgiving. It seems she was okay with it. Me and [...]
Pecha Kucha Detroit – Volume 10
Last night I presented at Pecha Kucha Detroit. This was my first time officially presenting as a visual artist. Prior to this, any presentations I made were on graphic design or branding processes. Things I know like the back of my hand, but this presentation was so different and joyous. In most cases I would [...]
Photos – Occupy Detroit
There are so many creative and caring people in Detroit. Tim Peoples, a photographer that I met through another great friend, David Tinsley, is one of those creative people. Last week, Tim decided to go to Occupy Detroit and to help people understand what this movement was about, he didn’t take photos of the people [...]
Colorful Women
For the past 7 – 8 years, maybe more, I’ve been drawing and painting women to find out more about my own womanhood and femininity. It has been a long and wonderful journey. Now I am ready to share some of my drawings with others. Starting next month, prints of my “Colorful Women” will be [...]
Detroit 100 Poster Workshop
I want to invite designers to my upcoming workshop. This is a fun-filled evening for designers to share with other designers. We will get together and create over food, drink, music and fun!. This is the kick-off to the Detroit100 Project. I hope to see you there. RSVP is not necessary,but appreciated.
Culture in Your Own Back Yard
I become bored quickly and need to do something to get rid of the irritation that comes with that. Sometimes I grab my sketchbook or a good novel or I clean; but that doesn’t always help and I find myself in my car or walking down the street just to feel like I am doing…something. [...]
Graffiti Art on the Dequindre Cut
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 I had a tough week and needed to do something to decompressed. The weather was so wonderful, so I decided to go to the Dequindre Cut and go for a walk. The Dequindre Cut is a walkway/bike route that connects our Eastern Market to the Detroit Riverfront. It opened in 2009, [...]
Be: A Not So Small Word
So I meditate some mornings. My goal is to do it every day. It has been very helpful in bringing clarity and focus to my life; but I am human and still young in this discipline and there are some days I just don’t want to sit down for 30 minutes of contemplation or silence. [...]
What I Learned in Art Class
There are several reasons I moved back to Detroit. I write about those all the time. One of those several reasons is to reconnect to the artistic Donna that kinda got lost in the grind and shuffle of life. A part of that reconnection process included sharing my love of creating and art with others, [...]
Poem about My Library
Surfing the web and found this poem called “My Library” It’s only a room with shelves and books, but it’s far more magical than it looksIt’s a jet on which I soar to lands that exist no more. Or a key with which I find answers to questions crowding my mind. Building my habit of [...]
365 Days of Detroit – Day 156 – Detroit Poetry
Sunday, March 6, 2011 When I left Houston, a collegue and friend gave me a book: Dispatch Detroit. This is a series of books full of poetry from Metro Detroit artist. I was given volume six. Today, I came across this poem from Jose Lozano (translated by Marilynn Rashid). It’s been snowing for so long [...]
Van Gogh in Detroit and Chicago
I couldn’t come to Chicago without stopping by the Art Institute Chicago. It is such a vast collection of some of the more famous pieces that we may have seen in art history class. I didn’t even try to see everything. I wanted to make sure I stopped by one particular gallery and that was the impressionist [...]
My Favorite Books on Branding: What is Branding?Essential Design Handbooks
Matthew Healey has several books on brand. This is one that made it to my favorites list. Why? He really drives home two huge points to a successful brand and that is the customer part in making the brand successful as well as the importance of the story behind the brand. The story behind the [...]
My Perfect Library understands the Homeless Community
I want to thank Change.org and Socal Media for the below video. The subject of the video is homelessness and how important the library is to the homeless community. The man in this video, Leonard, lost his job, home, and mother in a very short period of time. Down and out, Leonard came to the library. At [...]
365 Days of Detroit – Day 81
It is time to put the Christmas tree up. There were like butt loads of places to buy trees, real trees, to purchase and place in the homes, but I chose to use the old plastic tree that my mother has been using since I was a kid. She said she hasn’t used it for [...]